The Top Albums of 2025

Since Debí Tirar Más Fotos was released on January 5, I’ve listened to the album by There Stands the Glass' 2020 Artist of the Year several times a week. Bad Bunny’s blend of vintage and futuristic sounds remained fresh, a trait that’s made Debí Tirar Más Fotos my favorite new album throughout the year. Selections two through ten in the following account battled for second place. Notable omissions including Cécile McLorin Salvant, SML and Morgan Wallen are represented in my ranking of the best songs of 2025. As always, there’s no overlap between the two listings.

1. Bad Bunny- Debí Tirar Más Fotos
Shake it like a Polaroid picture.

2. Rosalía- Lux
Her beautiful dark twisted fantasy.

3. Linda May Han Oh- Strange Heavens
My review.

4. Clipse- Let God Sort Em Out
So be it.

5. Sylvie Courvoisier and Mary Halvorson- Bone Bells
A perfect tandem.

6. Patricia Brennan- Of the Near and Far
Chamber jazz.

7. Billy Woods- Golliwog
Dank.

8. Gerald Clayton- Ones & Twos: Expanded Edition
My review.

9. John Glacier- Like a Ribbon
Icy.

10. Clarice Jensen- In holiday clothing, out of the great darkness
Bach-based drones.

11. Charles Lloyd- Figure in Blue
Hushed brilliance.

12. Armand Hammer- Mercy
Gold produced by the Alchemist.

13. Vox Clamantis- Pärt: And I heard a voice
My kind of praise and worship music.

14. Sylvie Courvoisier and Wadada Leo Smith- Angel Falls
Angels flying too close to the ground.

15. Karol G- Tropicoqueta
The rumors are true: I’m in the tank for the Columbian star.

16. Vijay Iyer and Leo Wadada Smith- Defiant Life
Resistance.

17. Mike- Showbiz!
No business.

18. Emily D’Angelo, Ben Bliss, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Metropolitan Opera- Tesori: Grounded
My review.

19. Military Gun- God Save the Gun
Bang! You’re dead.

20. Destroyer- Dan’s Boogie
Luxurious dissipation.

21. Tucker Wetmore- What Not To
My review.

22. Nick Shoulders- Refugia Blues
High and lonesome in the Ozarks.

23. Mister Water Wet- Things Gone and Things Still Here
The best album out of Kansas City in 2025.

24. Kelela- In The Blue Light
Live.

25. Carl Allen- Tippin’
My review.

26. Sō Percussion- 25x25
An eight-hour anniversary celebration.

27. Tyler, The Creator- Don’t Tap the Glass
Golf wang forever.

28. Nels Cline- Consentrik Quartet
My review.

29. Laura Jurd- Rites & Revelations
European folk-jazz fusion.

30. Anouar Brahem- After the Last Sky
ECM-core.

31. Camila Nebbia, Marilyn Crispell and Lesley Mok- A Reflection Distorts Over Water
Free trio.

32. Mike and Tony Selzer- Pinball II
Tilt.

33. Ches Smith- Clone Row
With Mary Halvorson, Liberty Ellman and Nick Dunston.

34. Sumac and Moor Mother- The Film
Horror show.

35. James McVinnie- Dreamcatcher
My review.

36. Olivia Dean- The Art of Loving
Pop life.

37. Salif Keita- So Kono
Transcendent.

38. Young Miko- Do Not Disturb
Ring the alarm.

39. Oren Ambarchi- Ghosted III
Haunting.

40. Juana Molina- DOGA
A lovely comeback.

41. Aruán Ortiz- Créole Renaissance
Solo piano.

42. claire rousay and Gretchen Korsmo- quilted lament
Meaningful ambience.

43. Cosmic Ear- Traces
My review.

44. Trio of Bloom- Trio of Bloom
Innovative power trio.

45. Grupo Firme- Evolución
Instant party.

46. Dijon- Baby
Princely.

47. Atmosphere- Jestures
My review.

48. Tim Berne- Yikes Too
My review.

49. Jeff Tweedy- Twilight Override
So many songs.

50. Al Foster- Live at Smoke
With Chris Potter, Brad Mehldau and Joe Martin.

The Top Performances of 2025

Original image of Jake Heggie at Grant Recital Hall by There Stands the Glass.

I attended 154 concerts at 72 venues on 140 days during the first eleven months of 2025. Club-hopping accounts for the discrepancy. I didn’t attend any major festivals. The most expensive ticket I purchased cost $65. My total outlay for tickets, cover charges and tips for musicians was more than $2,500. A significant change in my personal life as well as the likelihood of my health insurance premiums tripling next year could mean that 2025 was my last hurrah as an avid concertgoer. If that proves to be the case, the fifty performances listed here are all the more meaningful.

1. Brad Mehldau and Christian McBride at Muriel Kauffman Theatre
My review.

2. Callie Day and Isaac Cates at Grant Recital Hall
My Instagram clip.

3. Wayne Hancock and IV at Live at the Divide (Bozeman)
My Instagram clips are here and here.

4. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet at the Folly Theater
My Instagram snapshot.

5. Speed, Whispers, Spine and Stakes Is High at the Ship
My Instagram clips are here and here.

6. Swamp Dogg at the Lawrence Arts Center
My review.

7. 10cc at Ranch Mart Shopping Center
My review.

8. Terence Blanchard with the E-Collective and Turtle Island String Quartet at Muriel Kauffman Theatre
My review.

9. OHMA at the 1905 (Portland)
My review.

10. Branford Marsalis Quartet at the Folly Theater
My review.

11. Jake Heggie’s master class at Grant Recital Hall
My review.

12. Angela Hewitt at the Folly Theater
My Instagram snapshot.

13. Traxman and Xanna at miniBar
My review.

14. Horsegirl, Sweeping Promises and Godcaster at the Bottleneck
My review.

15. Samara Joy at the Folly Theater
My review.

16. Nick Hmeljak, Henry Scamurra, Isaiah Petrie, Jordan Faught and Jaylen Ward at Westport Coffee House
My review.

17. Hayden Pedigo and Jens Kuross at the Ship
My review.

18. The Gesualdo Six at Village Presbyterian Church
My Instagram clip.

19. Militarie Gun, Liquid Mike and Public Opinion at the Bottleneck
My review.

20. Butch Hancock, Bonnie Whitmore, My Politic, Aaron Lee Tasjan and BJ Barham at the Woody Guthrie Festival (Okemah)
My review.

21. Dead Heat, Stakes Is High, Failure Drill and Honey at Howdy
My Instagram clip.

22. Leonidas Kavakos and Daniil Trifonov at the Folly Theater
My Instagram snapshot.

23. Isaiah Collier at the Old Church (Portland)
My review.

24. Destroyer and Jennifer Castle at the Warehouse on Broadway
My review.

25. David Chael, Danny Embrey, Gerald Spaits and Brian Steever at Green Lady Lounge
My Instagram clip.

26. Robyn Hitchcock and Emma Swift at Knuckleheads
My review.

27. Elvis Costello at the Uptown Theater
My Instagram clip.

28. Deborah Brown and George Colligan at Upcycle Piano Craft
My Instagram clip.

29. Alexander Adams, Seth Andrew Davis and Jeff Goulet with Shanté Clair and Krista Kopper at Grand Avenue Temple
My Instagram clip and snapshot.

30. Maria Ioudenitch and Navo Chamber Orchestra at Southminster Presbyterian Church
My Instagram snapshot.

31. Leonkoro String Quartet at the 1900 Building
My Instagram snapshot.

32. Kid Congo Powers and the Pink Monkey Birds and Dan Jones and the Squids at recordBar
My Instagram clip.

33. Made in France at the Market at Meadowbrook
My Instagram snapshot.

34. Lil Wayne and Tyga at the T-Mobile Center
My review.

35. Bachathon at Village Presbyterian Church
My Instagram clip.

36. The Lyric Opera of Kansas City’s “Becoming a Redwood: The Songs of Lori Laitman and Dana Gioia” at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church
My Instagram snapshot.

37. Vanessa Thomas, Kara Smith, Michael Pagán and Steve Rigazzi at the Blue Room
My Instagram clip.

38. Crystal Gayle at Ameristar Casino
My review.

39. Joseph Genualdi and Sean Chen at White Recital Hall
My review.

40. Isaac Cates, Oleta Adams and Callie Day at the Church of the Resurrection
My Instagram clip.

41. claire rousey and Gretchen Korsmo at Holocene (Portland)
My review.

42. Garibaldi Trio at the 1900 Building
My review.

43. Les Arts Florissants with Théotime Langlois de Swarte at the Folly Theater
My Instagram clip.

44. Bram and Lucy Wijnands with the Kansas City Jazz Orchestraa at the Folly Theater
My review.

45. Vine Street Rumble at Shawnee Town
My Instagram snapshot.

46. The Lyric Opera of Kansas City’s “Cruzar” with Mariachi los Camperos at Muriel Kauffman Theatre
My review.

47. David Finckel and Wu Han at the Old Church (Portland)
My Instagram snapshot.

48. Devin Gray at the Ship
My review.

49. Steve Cardenas, Forest Stewart and Brian Steever at Westport Coffee House
My Instagram clip.

50. Deftones, Idles at the Barbarians of California at the T-Mobile Center
My review.

Last year’s concert ranking is here.

October 2025 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency

Screenshot of the trailer for the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Vincenzo Bellini’s “La Sonnambula” by There Stands the Glass.

The Top Ten Albums of October 2025*
1. Clarice Jensen- In holiday clothing, out of the great darkness
Bach-based drones.

2. Patricia Brennan- Of the Near and Far
Infinite.

3. Laura Jurd- Rites & Revelations
New rituals.

4. Charles Lloyd- Figure in Blue
Rapturous sketches.

5. Jakob Bro, Wadada Leo Smith and Marcus Gilmore- Murasaki
Wadada #1.

6. Sylvie Courvoisier and Wadada Leo Smith- Angel Falls
Wadada #2.

7. Militarie Gun- God Save the Gun
Firepower.

8. Yazmin Lacey- Teal Dreams
Think Jill Scott, not KC Current.

9. Meredith Monk- Cellular Songs
Primordial.

10. The Necks- Disquiet
Unsettling.

*October 31 releases excluded.

The Top Three Reissues, Reimaginings and Compilations of October 2025
1. Bruce Springsteen- Nebraska ‘82: Expanded Edition
Reasons to believe.

2. Peggy Lee- Mirrors: Expanded Edition
Existentialism courtesy of Leiber and Stoller.

3. JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown- Scaring the Hoes: Director's Cut
Refreshed version of the disruptive 2023 classic.

The Top Ten Songs of October 2025
1. Nathy Peluso featuring Rawayana- “Malportada”
Bad behavior.

2. Gabito Ballesteros and Fuerza Regida- “Chrome Hearts”
Shiny.

3. Amadou & Mariam- “Bienvenue à la maison”
A fond farewell.

4. SML- “Chicago Four”
Big shoulders.

5. Say She She- “Shop Boy”
C’est chic.

6. Robert Glasper featuring Norah Jones- “Prototype”
Two of a kind.

7. СОЮЗ featuring Tim Bernardes- “Lingua Do Mundo”
Belarus meets Brazil.

8. Silvana Estrada- “El Alma Mia”
Ooh! My soul.

9. Mobb Deep featuring Clipse- “Look at Me”
Seen.

10. Dave- “My 27th Birthday”
The party’s over.

The Top Ten Performances of October 2025
1. Brad Mehldau and Christian McBride at Muriel Kauffman Theatre
My review.

2. Terence Blanchard at Muriel Kauffman Theatre
My review.

3. Angela Hewitt at the Folly Theater
My Instagram snapshot.

4. Militarie Gun, Liquid Mike and Public Opinion at the Bottleneck
My Instagram clip.

5. Destroyer and Jennifer Castle at Warehouse on Broadway
My review.

6. Matt Villinger, Peter Schlamb, Sebastian Arias and Matt Robertson at the Blue Room
My Instagram clip.

7. Pete Escovedo at the Folly Theater
My notes.

8. Michael Shults, Dan Velicer, Dawson Coleman and Andrew Ouellette at Polsky Theatre
My Instagram snapshot.

9. Angela Hewitt’s masterclass at White Recital Hall
My Instagram snapshot.

10. Susan and William Goldenberg at Asbury United Methodist Church
My Instagram clip.

The previous monthly recap is here.

Concert Review: Destroyer at Warehouse on Broadway

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

I chatted up a couple Destroyer superfans prior to the ensemble’s performance at Warehouse on Broadway on Sunday, October 19. My new friends were baffled when I expressed my affinity for Dan Bejar’s lyrical dissipation. The appeal for them is entirely musical. 

Discovering there are apparently two mutually exclusive camps of Destroyer appreciation stunned me. Drawn to songs of dissolution, I’ve long admired Destroyer despite the band’s often unappealing musical sensibility.

The frayed decadence of the 2025 album Dan's Boogie- a woozy variant of Avalon-era Roxy Music- is the first time Destroyer’s sound properly aligns with Bejar’s predilection for themes shared by macabre authors of literary fiction such as Ian McEwan, Iris Murdoch and William Trevor.

My passion for Dan’s Boogie compelled me to buy a $16.50 ticket to the show. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that I was the oldest person amid the audience of approximately 250. Men who embrace the life Bejar chronicles usually don’t make it past sixty.

While his stage antics may be nothing more than sly showmanship, Bejar, 53, seemed to be living dangerously. Impeccably louche, he imbibed from a setup at the lip of the stage and occasionally employed lyric sheets.

The wall of sound from Bejar’s six-piece backing band seemed unreasonably wanton, but excess is Bejar’s raison d'être.  I would have been disappointed with anything less than a reckless display of profligacy.

March 2025 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency

Screenshot of the trailer for the Royal Opera’s production of Charles Gounod’s Faust by There Stands the Glass.

The Top Ten Albums of March 2025
1. Vijay Iyer and Leo Wadada Smith- Defiant Life
Resistance.

2. Sylvie Courvoisier and Mary Halvorson- Bone Bells
“What tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells.”

3. Destroyer- Dan’s Boogie
Regrettably, I know just what he means.

4. Nels Cline- Consentrik Quartet
My review.

5. clipping.- Dead Channel Sky
Overcast.

6. Anouar Brahem- After the Last Sky
Light in darkness.

7. Jan Lisiecki- Preludes by Chopin, Bach, Rachmaninoff, Messiaen, Górecki
All killer, no filler.

8. Bob James and Dave Koz- Just Us
My review.

9. Slim Thug and Propain- Double Cup
Still tippin’.

10. Stik Figa and DJ Sean P- A Small Fortune
Buried treasure.

The Top Three Reissues, Repackagings and Reimaginings of March 2025
1. Art Pepper- Geneva 1980
Late-career fire.

2. Neil Young- Oceanside Countryside
Previously unreleased 1977 album.

3. Branford Marsalis Quartet- Belonging
A replication of Keith Jarrett’s 1974 album.

The Top Ten Songs of March 2025
1. Nathy Peluso- “Erotika”
Salsa. 

2. PremRock featuring Cavalier and Elucid- “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”
Bad guys.

3. Billy Woods and Kenny Segal- “Misery”
Muck and mire.

4. feeble little horse- “This Is Real”
Debaser.

5. Mackenzie Carpenter- “Gone Fishing”
Hook, line and sinker.

6. Maren Morris- “Carry Me Through”
Self help.

7. Black Country, New Road- “Happy Birthday”
Fourpenny opera.

8. Dierks Bentley featuring Stephen Wilson Jr.- "Cold Beer Can"
Pop a top.

9. Little Simz- "Free"
Priceless.

10. TheBabeGabe and The Human featuring Monogram- "1999"
They were dreaming when they wrote this.

The Top Ten Performances of March 2025
1. Robyn Hitchcock and Emma Swift at Knuckleheads
My review.

2. Branford Marsalis Quartet at the Folly Theater
My review.

3. Dead Heat, Stakes Is High, Failure Drill and Honey at Howdy
My Instagram clip.

4. Leonidas Kavakos and Danil Trifonov at the Folly Theater
My Instagram snapshot.

5. Leonkoro at the 1900 Building
My Instagram snapshot.

6. Bram and Lucy Wijnands and the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra at the Folly Theater
My review.

7. Thomas Dunford at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral
My Instagram snapshot.

8. The Lyric Opera of Kansas City’s “Becoming a Redwood: The Songs of Lori Laitman and Dana Gioia” at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church
My Instagram snapshot.

9. Dawson Jones at Green Lady Lounge
My review.

10. The Lyric Opera’s “Cruzar la Cara de la Luna” with Mariachi los Camperos at Muriel Kauffman Theatre
My review.

The previous monthly recap is here.